Recent Comments

With nearly $180 billion in assets under management, “activist” investment funds have become a powerful force in the capital markets: Nearly 40% of companies in the S&P 500 attracted activist attention in recent years. According to Activist Insight, 320 companies in the U.S. experienced an activist campaign in just the first half of 2017; but who, exactly, are these activists, what are they after, and what role do they collectively serve?

Steve Cohen, the high profile hedge fund manager, narrowly escaped a prison sentence for trading on insider information. Yet cable billionaire John Malone’s recent insider buying of $16 million of Liberty Global shares, where he is Chairman of the Board and clearly knows a lot of non-public information, is perfectly legal and may be a valuable signal to investors. Can both be possible at the same time? The not-so-simple answer: yes, and no.

Amazon certainly is impressive; but, realistically, not every industry will be challenged by their profit-draining expansion, nor will every product be sold at large discounts on amazon.com. In this month's Turnaround Letter, we explore a brief selection of companies that would probably be among the last ones to succumb to Amazon Fever. Each has traits that are well outside of the Amazon model, are out of favor and have some interesting turnaround aspects.

As turnaround investors, we approach REITs differently: Rather than focusing on a particular segment of the real estate market, we look for individual REITs that have been neglected by investors but have solid value--that should prevail regardless of the overall market.

MarketWatch's Michael Brush has some advice for investors: "Own out-of-favor stocks held by active funds when they start beating indices again." Pointing out the difficulties currently faced by fund managers, the article cites George's observation that this "dynamic sets up a clever way to place a contrarian bet against the ETF boom." Brush cites three of George's recent stock picks and touts The Turnaround Letter's straightforward investing approach.

Because of special tax law provisions that exempt the territory’s debt from not only federal taxes but also state taxes in every state, the bonds are widely held by investors across the country. Since the legal action is under a new law that has never been tested, there is tremendous uncertainty about how much creditors will recover and how long the process will take, but there may be opportunities for stock investors to profit from the island’s restructuring as well--perhaps with less downside risk than in many of the bonds. We found four public companies based in Puerto Rico that could benefit from stabilization in the island’s finances as well as three major insurance companies with exposure to Puerto Rican debt.

MoneyLife Radio's Chuck Jaffe recently interviewed The Turnaround Letter's George Putnam to learn more about what he looks for in an ideal turnaround investing opportunity: a solid core business, strong brand recognition and a healthy balance sheet. Putnam also talks specific business sector trends—namely in the troubled retail and energy arenas.

It’s been a remarkable turn of sentiment for banks since early last year, when we wrote “Everyone Hates the Banks” in our February 2016 issue. At the time, not only was the stock market selling off, but bank stocks were falling even faster. Investors were worried that a weakening economy would delay the Fed’s interest rate hikes and increase loan losses, particularly from the energy sector--both of which would crimp banks’ already tepid earnings outlook. Both the economic upturn that started in mid-2016 and the Presidential election were very favorable to banks. After continued price volatility in the first half of 2016, the KBW Bank Index surged 18% in the months ahead of the election. Following the election, bank stocks surged another 32% to their peak on March 1, 2017, a total gain of over 55% from their early 2016 level.

Learn George Putnam's Turnaround Secrets

Turnaround Investing Blog

With nearly $180 billion in assets under management, “activist” investment funds have become a powerful force in the capital markets: Nearly 40% of companies in the S&P 500 attracted activist attention in recent years. According to Activist Insight, 320 companies in the U.S. experienced an activist campaign in just the first half of 2017; but who, exactly, are these activists, what are they after, and what role do they collectively serve?
Read More.

Market-Beating Profit: The 200+ Club

Turnaround stocks present a unique opportunity for savvy investors to buy in at bargain prices. Take a look at this list of just a few of our purchase recommendations that have realized a return rate of 200% or better:

* Bristow remains in our active portfolio (currently as a Hold), and 1,390% gain is as of 7/19/17.

Five Struggling Stocks That Will Turn Around

x

Kiplinger points out that despite the post-election stock market surge, not all stocks have benefited from the uptick: "More than 100 issues in the S&P 500 have fallen in price this year, including dozens that have slumped by more than 10%....Yet these stocks won’t all stay in the dumps forever. Some will mount a comeback in 2017, making it an opportune time to try to identify the best candidates."

Quoting George Putnam, Kiplinger details five value opportunities for the new year.